PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

The poor old 2012 Nissen auto radiator is looking bit tired with the cooling fan rattling around loosely (still cools fine though)
Good time to replace it with this similar spare fresh Nissen rad I got from Stefan few yrs ago

It's the same Nissen 629871 auto rad but made in 2020 with a few subtle changes such as:
34 cooling tubes vs 31 tubes,
different auxilary cooler fitting

 

[pollyp]

was given a free tripod from a friend, I printed this mount to hold my Huawei phone

and first time I tried out this light painting mode on my phone and oooh it looks cool

 

[pollyp]

For the past few yrs I've noticed the walbro pump seem to occasionally hum a little bit lower/weaker when priming at cold starts, as though it's not getting enough power (whether the battery is dying or there's too much wiring resistance)

With IGN on & engine off, the battery shows a weak 12v while the pump only receives 10.8v which explains the struggling hum

After running the engine a few mins to recharge the battery and measuring the voltages of the circuit I get:

Battery: 14.07v
IGN switch: 13.92 - 13.82v
Fuse: 13.62 - 13.60v
Pump Relay: 13.40 - 13.38v
Pump: 13.18v

Each component consumes 0.02v
But the wiring inbetween each part loses a big 0.20v
So almost 1 volt will be lost when it reaches the pump

wondering if this reduced voltage has affected the fuel flow & pressure, especially at the high end, and possibly making it lean out? I attached the fuel pressure gauge

and having this ghetto gauge pop out my bonnet whilst driving around town

Throughout the rpm range and low-high loads the fuel pressure remains perfectly fine & stable.
Idle & coasting = 32psi
Cruising = 35psi
WOT upto limiter = 44psi

So in conclusion, the fuel system is fine and the battery is simply dying or something is draining it (ie alarm & tracker)

 

[SuperUno]

In the end I rewired a separate feed to the pump direct from the batter via a via and 20amp switch. This is also useful if you need to drain fuel from the system, and gives a better voltage at the pump. Also check the earth feed at the pump, you need a good supply and earth...

 

[pollyp]

Matt I wanna thank you for that advice cos it's helped me locate & fix the issue

This morning I inserted a length of spare wire to the relay pin leading out the to fuel pump.
Turning the IGN on, pump would hum low & lazy as before but the moment I touch the other end of the spare wire to the battery +ve the pump comes alive and hums high & loudly

So with one end of the wire attached to the battery +ve, listening to the pitch of the pump, I'm able to progressively touch parts of the +ve circuit to bypass any resistances (from pump to the battery) and hit a spot where the pitch doesn't change.

Using that method I was able to trace the cause back to this single copper DIY crimped lug, which I first made back in 2011 when I needed to make this extension cable to relocate the battery for the turbo.

Whilst the rest of the wiring was fitted with the proper crimped silver lug terminals, this was the original bad copper pipe lug which has slowly corroded away creating a resistive poor voltage drop over the years

The inside & outside of this copper pipe plus the copper cable strands are probably all oxidised

Chopped the old lug out and lightly sanded the oxide off the copper strands

Crimped a proper fresh new lug terminal on

Bolted all together

And now all her systems are receiving full battery power, pump humming away strongly and noticed she fires up very strong & immediately now

 

[pollyp]

received a new pair of GTIR pads for road use

rear door catch was getting slightly rusty/sticky

gave it a wirebrush & grease to slide better

 

[pollyp]

playing around with more light painting the other night, ended up running around the car with the torch at different elevations, and WOW I'm amazed at the end result, soo pretty

 

[pollyp]

with a trackday coming up on June 19th it's time to dust off & jet wash the trackday wheels

but woops, the jet peeled off the old oxidised rattlecan paint

good thing I don't care bout the surface of these track wheels, wirebrushed most of the oxide off

and a can of black paint sorted it

 

[pollyp]

Footage of the recent test drive after fixing the voltage issue.



Cranks strongly and pulls better.

There's always been an annoying rattle/buzz from the glovebox (hinge or latch) so decided to simply remove it

 

[pollyp]

This weekend I decided to strip away the dash for few reasons:
*Reinforce the flimsy steering column support bracket,
*Lighten the car for an upcoming trackday next week,
*Check if the rattles stop after removing the dash
*Document all my non-OEM wiring while the dash is off

All the dash, HVAC, pedals & steering removed

Welded a plate over this flimsy steering support bracket to stop it bending sideways under load.
It used to bend upto 2-3deg whenever I rock the steering wheel sideways hard, meaning the steering would feel mushy near dead-center & would shake a lot sideways when cruising with slightly unbalanced wheels

Here's a preface airbag steering column.
Notice the collapsable steering column feature.

During normal use, the tension bolt (part of the tilt adjust mech) clamps the inner bracket (welded to the column) onto the outer bracket (bolted to the chassis support beam) to hold it secure.

But during a frontal impact when the driver hits the airbag and/or strikes the steering wheel (non-airbag wheels) with large enough force:
-The force will push the telescopic column forward,
-Sliding the inner bracket past the outer bracket (cos inner bracket has a slot allowing it to slide forward and the tension bolt is only barely tight enough),
-And then the wavey strip (joining the column to the tension bolt) has to stretch/deform & absorb some energy.

The main bracket that's bolted onto the sturdy cross beam attached to the A-pillar didn't seem to have much lateral rigidity, so I added more diagonal support bars to reduce flexing

So that's the front & rear column support brackets reinforced and now it barely moves 1deg when I rock the steering wheel sideways really hard

Reassembled the steering & pedals & taped the instrument panel temporarily in place, leaving out the rest of the dash saving upto 14kg

Also stripped out the rear saving 35kg and fitted the X-brace

Overall it's saved upto 47kg (potentially 60kg if I also remove the passenger seat) and oh boy it's noticeably more nimble when I went for a test drive



Obviously without the dash covering the bulkhead exposed holes,
there's some engine noises coming through louder such as the starter motor & induction noises from the IACV and exhaust downpipe noise
but all the previous rattles from the dash/A-pillar have all gone,
steering response is slightly sharper,
wheel wheel no longer visibly shakes while cruising at 70,
accelerates & corners faster

 

[pollyp]

2023-06-12 Find Helix 200mm Clutch Replacement

The old 200mm Helix organic clutch I brought from Matt Humphris in 2012 is now running abit thin and need replacing soon but with no markings or original packaging, I have no idea what the Helix part # are

The only option I have is to research deeply into clutch specs that match the current one.
Clutch plate = 134 - 200mm dia, 8.0mm thick
Spline = 18 - 20.60mm x 18 teeth
ADN13308 release bearing.

searching through Helix catalogs only brought a few matches but very limited details.

next I searched through LuKs catalog, which have slightly more details, and managed to find only 2 very close matching discs:
LUK 320 0207 10
LUK 320 0431 10

but since these old kits are discontinued, searching on ebay brough up equivelant Blueprint kits.

#Option 1#
LUK 320043110 / ADN13140 discs are used in kits LUK 620317800 / ADN130127
for Almera N16 1.5 / Primera P12 1.6

Ordered the kit from work to measure up, the PP is a slightly different design at 127 - 205mm dia and has a larger center hole than the Helix (shorter fingers might change the diaphram leverage?)

the spline fits and it's 200mm outer dia but has a 137mm inner dia (less surface area) and only 4 spring dampers

the Helix diaphram hole is smaller with a smaller ADN13308 bearing whereas this kit uses a larger diameter ADN13305. both will fit the CG13 gearbox

I wasn't 100% sure if this was a good match but my shop wasn't able to order the other option from our supplier

#Option 2#
LUK320020710 / ADN13150 discs are used in ADN13091 kits
for 2.0L diesels on Primera P10 / Almera N15 / Sunny N14 MK3

the only way to check if this kit was correct is to risk buying it on ebay myself and hope it's a better match

the ADN13091 kit consists of the ADN13150 disc, ADN13220N PP and ADN13305 bearing

the clutch disc is a good match at 200mm outer dia, 135mm inner dia, 8.80mm thick & 6 spring dampers

fits the input shaft perfectly

Both discs sit exactly the same on the flywheel (notice same distance from bolt holes)

The ADN13220N pressure plate is a similar contruction measuring 129 - 201mm dia

but it concerns me that the bolt holes & locating pins might be a fraction different

notice the lip edge of the PP casing is 1-2mm closer out to the starter ring teeth. I'm suspecting it'll need some mods to fit

major difference between the OEM Blueprint & Helix heavy duty PP is the double stacked diaphram which has made this clutch unbareably heavy for 11yrs.
this 200mm Blueprint clutch should hopefully hold up against the torque (especially when I eventually turbo her again) but with a more forgiving PP weight

 

[fuzzy-hair-man]

major difference between the OEM Blueprint & Helix heavy duty PP is the double stacked diaphram which has made this clutch unbareably heavy for 11yrs.
this 200mm Blueprint clutch should hopefully hold up against the torque (especially when I eventually turbo her again) but with a more forgiving PP weight

I've pretty simply and easily converted my mini conversion back to a hydraulic clutch using the qg engine clutch pivot, I haven't tested it but from looking at it I'd be surprised if the clutch master from the qg engined car didn't bolt up to the firewall. It might give you the clutch weight you're looking for.

 

[SuperUno]

I suspect Helix would re-face the clutch plate if you contact them

 

[pollyp]

I've pretty simply and easily converted my mini conversion back to a hydraulic clutch using the qg engine clutch pivot, I haven't tested it but from looking at it I'd be surprised if the clutch master from the qg engined car didn't bolt up to the firewall. It might give you the clutch weight you're looking for.

thanks for the info, it's definately something to look into to reduce friction for these heavy clutches

 

[pollyp]

I suspect Helix would re-face the clutch plate if you contact them

probably at the cost of an arm & leg
although I've already brought an OEM alternative to try out

 

[pollyp]

2023-06-17 Radiator Fan Switch Override

It's always bugged me that the rad fan only kicks in above 95deg.
So whenever I'm parking the car into the garage or sitting in heavy traffic or just returned to the pitlane on a trackday, the engine could be cooking at 94deg when I turn the engine off and everything heatsoaks

I wanted a manual switch to engage the fan and help bring temps down to the thermostats normal 82c and ventilate heat out the engine bay before shutting the engine.

checking haynes diagrams, the relay has a constant 12v and the ECU simply grounds the red wire to earth, powering the solenoid to switch the fan motor

so to bypass it, I add a wire to the red terminal of the fan relay

route it through the bulkhead

connect the wire to a basic switch and the other terminal to chassis ground.

so now I can flip the switch at any time (even when the car's off), it grounds the red relay wire, switching the fan on and cooling the radiator

 

[pollyp]

2023-06-19 Yorkshire Modified Show

at 6am meeting with the TeamWhiteCustoms club in Stockton to convoy down to Malton

parking up at the club stand and cleaning the car after a slight drizzle

it was a nice warm day with lots of interesting builds & people

end of the show we went down to the pond for a few scenic shots

 

[pollyp]

prepping & packing the car for trackday tomorrow

the old passenger grab handles been ripped out & missing for the past few year

so I quickly made a simply grab handle out of spare battery/subwoofer cable, crimped lug terminals and bolted it on with rivnuts.
it's strong enough to support my weight

dusted off the track wheels and packed the car ready

 

[pollyp]

2023-06-19 Teesside Autodrome - Evening Trackday

Summer season came abit later this year.
Arrived after 4pm on a dry warm day, unpacked & swapped to the semislicks. Friend Karan arrived too

Car setup / changes
Some changes since my last trackday on 2022-05-23:

• Relocated TB
• CAI into front wing
• New radiator
• Swapped to Janspeed cat-back exhaust
• Replace IGN loom & connectors to improve 14v voltage
• New rear wheel bearing
• New thermostat
• New gear linkage bearing
• Reinforced steering column support
• Removed 15kg dash
• 2.5deg camber
• 0deg toe

#17.00 Warm up lap
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.2/2.4bar cold
60/40 brake bias
dry warm track
95% fuel
With Karan



During the sighting laps I noticed the first hairpin corner has now been resurfaced with a less bumpy apex and tyre barrier shifted closer inwards. The straights are still roughly potholed all over the place lol

#17.16 Run 1
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.2/2.4bar cold
60/40 brake bias
dry warm track
95% fuel
With Karan



POI:
@02:10 Telling Karan no handheld cameras for safety
@06:20 Checking Karan is ok

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
66s (3rd, 3rd, 2nd) let car pass
67s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
63s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
61s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)

I was expecting these 10yr old Federals to slide like last yr but was surprised to feel they're still really grippy with no oversteer, maybe due to the warm dry condition and the rear pressure is still in the low 2.2bar relative to the 2.4bar fronts.
She also decelerates really rapidly at the end of the straights now with the 15kg dash removed.

#17.44 Run 2
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.7/2.4bar warm
60/40 brake bias
dry warm track
90% fuel
Driver only



POI
@01.58 Going too wide onto chicane bump
@03.07 Skipping too close over the hairpin dip
@04.10 Accidentally hit clutch instead of brakes, locking front right wheel
@04.53 Power understeer

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
57s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

The balance felt really stable, minimal lift-off oversteer which built more confidence, and I began to brake later & harder at the end of the straight which may have saved some lap time. Reduced weight from passenger saves approx 2sec per lap

#18.20 Run 3
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.7/2.45bar warm
60/40 brake bias
dry warm track
80% fuel
With Karan



POI
@01.40 Passing red Hyundai
@02.28 Lift off oversteer
@02.45 Lockup front left wheel
@03.30 Turn brake bias to 57/43% front/rear
@04.30 Overtake blue KA
@05.07 Hitting limiter & changing gear mid-corner upset balance
@06.45 Passing bmw
@07.48 Slight oversteer from cornering too fast
@08.50 Tyres starting to overheat
@09.40 Brakes fading slightly

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
61s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
61s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)

Balance felt good, brakes & tyres began to fade slightly later on

#18.55 Run 4
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.7/2.65bar warm
57/43 brake bias
dry warm track
70% fuel
Driver only



POI
@01.00 Datalog froze
@02.50 Passing slower car with bmw
@05.20 Pass bmw through chicane
@05.45 Let smoky fabia pass, had to move to one side of the smog
@06.00 Let honda & hyundai pass
@07.05 Pass smoking fabia
@08.42 Pass blue MR2
@09.50 Accidentally hit clutch instead of brakes
@10.50 Overtake black clio

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
61s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic behind BMW
62s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic behind BMW
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic behind BMW
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic behind BMW
67s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) let cars pass
63s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic behind Fabia
58s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic behind MR2
61s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

Was a very busy late session held up behind an irratic amateur BMW and rolling coal Fabia. Tried to do a datalog but the laptop connection froze.
Overall it's been a fun day, she performed really well with no issues at all and only used 1/4 tank

gave her a quick service afterwards

 

[pollyp]

reinstalled the dash & stereo

few days ago some bird shat on her door which baked in the sun & etched itself before I wiped it off after finishing work

tried to polish most of the stain off

for afew months she's had this faint odd buzz/rattle in the front end when coasting off-throttle, noticed a slight crack days ago so lets remove the center beam for a closer look

ah bugger, there's the problem.
once again on these cheap ebay-pattern-parts the stress & vibration of the firmer engine mounts & trackday stress causes the crossmember to crack where the center beam is attached

chopped the broken section out

can see the reinforcing bracket (meant to spread the shock load from the center beam up to the top of the crossmember box-section) is hardly attached and may even be buckled, allowing the bottom of the panel to flex too much and fatigue crack over time

I could either simply patch over the hole as an easy fix?

Or the harder solution is to preferably chop out the bottom of the whole crossmember for better access and then weld a series of reinforcing trusses across the box-section to stiffen the whole thing?

 

[Fabrizio]

I see also rust, probably it should be better to change the whole crossmember. Usually the reinforces, if not calculated, move the cracks in another place.
For the bird's job on paint, grind slightly the surface with sandpaper grain 2000 and water. Then use a polish.

 

[pollyp]

I see also rust, probably it should be better to change the whole crossmember. Usually the reinforces, if not calculated, move the cracks in another place.
For the bird's job on paint, grind slightly the surface with sandpaper grain 2000 and water. Then use a polish.

the rest of the crossmember looks fine, not enough to justify replacing it all yet and besides the replacement beam will probably have the same design flaw. it's just that one weak section that's buckled leading to cracks over time. mending it with a patch will do for now since I have a show & trackday coming up.
perhaps in future when it all rots out, then I'll buy a new beam & reinforce that too before installation.

the bird stain is mostly polished out ok unless you're really staring hard but end of the day I'm not fussed cos it ain't a show car

 

[pollyp]

removed the radiator for better access to reach & weld the rear side of the crossmember

welded these vertical square tubing to the top & rear-side of the crossmember to help spread the forces from the center-beam over a larger area

welded a plate on

for the captive nuts, I welded nuts onto a square washer

using the center-beam to accurately locate the captive nuts into place, I welded the square washer assembly onto the new plate

so now the shock-forces coming from the center-beam (during rapid up-shifts/down-shifts) goes through the square washer, travels up the vertical square pipe welded right above it, and then spreads the force across the top & back of the crossmember

 

[Micra Paul]

Incredible persistence attention to detail.

You say “it aint a show car”?

Well I can see from skimming through your blog that it appears to be your life’s work?

How many man hours have you put into KSG over the last ten years logged in your maintenance work log sheet records?

 

[Fabrizio]

View attachment 86856






View attachment 86861

Hello, you found a good solution; it looks reliable thanks to the squared tubes. Well done.
Regarding the bird, I suggested that treatment because you seemed worried about paint: glad to know you're OK.

 

[buscaminombre]

For the past few yrs I've noticed the walbro pump seem to occasionally hum a little bit lower/weaker when priming at cold starts, as though it's not getting enough power (whether the battery is dying or there's too much wiring resistance)

With IGN on & engine off, the battery shows a weak 12v while the pump only receives 10.8v which explains the struggling hum

After running the engine a few mins to recharge the battery and measuring the voltages of the circuit I get:

Battery: 14.07v
IGN switch: 13.92 - 13.82v
Fuse: 13.62 - 13.60v
Pump Relay: 13.40 - 13.38v
Pump: 13.18v

Each component consumes 0.02v
But the wiring inbetween each part loses a big 0.20v
So almost 1 volt will be lost when it reaches the pump

View attachment 86727

View attachment 86728

wondering if this reduced voltage has affected the fuel flow & pressure, especially at the high end, and possibly making it lean out? I attached the fuel pressure gauge

View attachment 86729

and having this ghetto gauge pop out my bonnet whilst driving around town

View attachment 86730

View attachment 86731

View attachment 86732

Throughout the rpm range and low-high loads the fuel pressure remains perfectly fine & stable.
Idle & coasting = 32psi
Cruising = 35psi
WOT upto limiter = 44psi

So in conclusion, the fuel system is fine and the battery is simply dying or something is draining it (ie alarm & tracker)

keep the gauge in there, it looks badass

 

[SuperUno]

Nice work there

 

[pollyp]

Incredible persistence attention to detail.

You say “it aint a show car”?

Well I can see from skimming through your blog that it appears to be your life’s work?

How many man hours have you put into KSG over the last ten years logged in your maintenance work log sheet records?

thx m8

aye it's definately nowhere near a 'show&shine' level of perfection & cleanliness for competative shows, that's not what she's for.
she's more of a casual hobby project car.
use her for daily commutes, roadtrips on holiday and occasional track fun.
occasionally testing new ideas on her. keeping her maintained to run nice & presentable.

yup she keeps me busy & refines my skills.
a project car never ends for as long as the owner lives

 

[pollyp]

Hello, you found a good solution; it looks reliable thanks to the squared tubes. Well done.
Regarding the bird, I suggested that treatment because you seemed worried about paint: glad to know you're OK.

cheers, it's a nice little fix for the time being till I have to replace it all again.
yeah that tiny splat ain't a worry vs the rest of the body

 

[pollyp]

keep the gauge in there, it looks badass

hehe it reminds me of them old school drag cars with the massive cowl induction hoods & various engine gauges put behind em

 

[pollyp]

2023-07-01

Taped the sizzling hot pringles tube back onto the intake hose lol

these Federal track tyres are now getting old & worn thin and I've been thinking bout finding some replacements

my local salvage yard I frequently deliver at had some semislicks laying around so I thought I'd go compare em

got one wheel removed to inspect

so amongst the stack of used tyres I spotted these used Yoko AD48 205/45/15
they had an OK tread depth but very unevenly worn to the left-side and one of them has been rubbing the body very badly

but the biggest problem is that it's from 2003 and seriously age hardened (it won't grip as well) compared to my current 2014/2017 Federals which are still nice & soft

so decided to stick to my Federal 595rsr for now

 

[pollyp]

2023-07-02 Kulturschock Car Show @ Gateshead Stadium

Was a nice morning to attending this local big car show full of shiny lovely & loud cars

even saw this pickup K11

The main show & shine stadium was mouth watering

more treats inside

they did a RevItOff competition with some very pop&banging cars



followed by this amusing limbo game of who has the lowest car

 

[Micra Paul]

thx m8

aye it's definately nowhere near a 'show&shine' level of perfection & cleanliness for competative shows, that's not what she's for.
she's more of a casual hobby project car.
use her for daily commutes, roadtrips on holiday and occasional track fun.
occasionally testing new ideas on her. keeping her maintained to run nice & presentable.

yup she keeps me busy & refines my skills.
a project car never ends for as long as the owner lives

May K11 owners & KSG”s live long & prosper doing our own thing.

As reasonably competent DIY motorist & repairer I only do what I consider to be the right work, that is the absolute minimum to keep my 25 year old K11 running & passing MOTs @ minimal overall costs.

I have learned a great deal from you guys on the MSC & that has enabled my above strategy & detail plan method.

We do it our way.

 

[pollyp]

2023-07-03 Teesside Autodrome - Evening Trackday

Arrived early at the track to fit all my cameras and prep the car on this lovely warm dry day
Was also pleased to see another K11 preface red Micra turn up which was Mark Dodds

Swapped over to the semislicks

Car setup / changes
Changes since 2023-06-19:

• Welded cracked crossmember
• Changed oil & filter
• Reinstalled dashboard

#16.50 Warm up laps
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.6/2.7bar cold
57/43 brake bias
dry warm track
35% fuel
Driver only



Warming up the brakes & tyres

#17.16 Run 1
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.6/2.7bar still cold
57/43 brake bias
dry warm track
35% fuel
Driver only



POI:
@02:28 Rear tyre still cold & slippery
@03:17 Let honda & clio pass
@03:50 Let bmw & mx5 pass
@04:20 Stuck behind bmw
@05:50 Pass bmw
@06;04 Enter 180 bend too fast above 50mph with rear end slipping
@07;00 Let white bmw pass

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
60.16 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
65.16 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
64.72 (2nd, 3rd, 2nd) let car pass
59.92 (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
59.92 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass

Initially taking it easy on these old tyres to slowly get them thoroughly warmed up.
Since I started the cold pressures at their hot pressures, it'll keep rising as it gets hot and reduce grip, especially the rear end which takes long time to warm up, but I just have to check & bleed it back to the normal pressure every time I pit until the pressure stabilises.

Noticed I can't go above 50mph at the last 180deg bend or else the rear end will slide out, probably a sign of the old hard rubber struggling to bite at the faster long bends?

It was a very busy track and noticed the 35% fuel drops near red during a run, so I soon pitted to recheck the pressures & add some fuel.

#18.00 Run 2
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.6/2.7bar hot
57/43 brake bias
dry warm track
50% fuel
Driver only



POI:
@01:30 Turn up fan cos abit warm
@02:15 Let mr2 pass
@05:00 Spot Mark in his red Micra
@05:16 Catch up behind red Micra
@06:25 Pass Mark in red Micra
@06:40 Slight oversteer mid-corner
@07:38 Entering 180deg bend at 55mph
@09:24 Pass hyundai
@09:33 Lockup front left
@09:40 Add more rear brake bias

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
59.16 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59.88 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
58.48 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59.32 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
58.64 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) following Mark
58.16 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) following Mark
57.60 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58.04 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.88 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58.20 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

Reducing the hot pressures back down to 2.6/2.7bars helped reduce the slippery rear end.
Saw if I kept a higher speed through the long last bend and through the chicanes, it could save upto 1sec a lap.

The 1-2 laps I was following behind Mark in his red micra was a gr8 moment to learn the differences between our builds.

Down the straights we had very similar power/acceleration and he had fresher Nankang NR2R on proper 13" Volks TE37 but I had slightly better brakes & cornering speed, obviously I'm holding back & braking little earlier to avoid getting too close behind
Soo nice to drive with a similar paced micra

#18.50 Run 3
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.6/2.7bar hot
57/43 brake bias
dry warm track
40% fuel
Driver only



POI:
@02:57 Trailbraking oversteer
@03:40 Entering 180 bend at 55mph & running slightly wide
@04:37 Pass black toyota
@04:54 Braking too late into chicane & running wide
@05:05 Caught up behind red Micra
@05:10 Let blue golf pass
@05:30 Pass red Micra
@05:47 Let mr2 pass
@07:40 Lockup rear slightly
@08:38 Lockup front left
@08:47 Full 50/50 bias
@09:35 Lockup front left again
@11:45 2nd through chicane then 3rd through fast left bend
@12:53 Let honda & audi pass
@13:54 Brake too hard at hairpin
@14:17 Pass black toyota
@14:40 Oversteer through chicane
@15:23 Lockup front left

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
58.84 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58.08 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58.36 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
59.12 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
62.76 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
58.80 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58.24 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58.08 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.68 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.96 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.76 (2nd/3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.24 (2nd/3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
60.72 (2nd/3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let cars pass
56.72 (2nd/3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.40 (2nd/3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

Car felt good on this final long session with the tyres & brakes finally thoroughly heated up. You can see the laptimes gradually getting quicker as the tyres heat up and fuel weight burns off.
Near the end I learnt the fastest gearing through the first section is to hit the chicane S in 2nd gear (for max acceleration & increased lift-off oversteer rotation) and then shift to 3rd before the fast left corner (for better stability and continue accelerating without hitting the limiter)

I also noticed in the pits after each run, she tends to push her coolant into the expansion bottle and there's lots of empty gas in the radiator, plus the rad hoses would collapse after cooling down
I suspect the extreme track abuse at high rev is lifting the head bolts and leaking gas into the cooling system
Driving normally at low revs, it's fine.

It's been a brilliant day

 

[pollyp]

On a personal note, I recently spoke to Jamie (who used to film my car on LetsTorqueCars channel and he now does body&mind fitness coaching) agreeing about how the condition of our body influences our mindset/confidence.

now the reason for this conversation is cos nowadays:
- I'm stuck in a low pay job I'm unhappy with,
- I lack confidence in myself (physically/mentally) to seek new jobs (traumatised by my past depression),
- I've got a fat belly which I've always h8ted (made worse by the non-stop delivery driver job where I rely snacking on cheap/fast/convenient junk food/sweets in the van, and never exercise)
- always tired during/after work with little energy/motivation to do anything.

As a teen I used to be a fit guy cycling for miles daily but ever since Uni & learnt to drive I got lazy, not exercised for over 20yrs and tend to eat junk food resulting in the symptoms above and going nowhere in life.

Jamie asked me to take profile photos of my body standing in underwear, and seeing the extent of my whole bare body for the first time has shocked me
The upper body and legs are fine & buff but my poor dad-bod pot belly has really let go from yrs of neglect and I'm soo embarrased!

Now with his inspiration & motivation, plus one of my good m8 joined the programme and improved soo much, I decided it's time to change.
I've already dedicated half my life to kassandra but now it's my turn to care for myself

So I've joined his 12mth training programme,
joined the gym,
changed my diet giving up ALLL sugars, junk food, sweet stuff,
eating salad fruit & veg,
keeping carbs low,
do 1hr home exercises 3days / week,
being trained by Jamie at the gym on the weights and smashing them target goals which feels rewarding at how strong my muscles already are due to lifting at work everyday.

Few more weeks of this will soon shift that watery fat and gain more muscle & energy & positivity

The goal is if I can overcome this laziness & get fit, then I can surely overcome my fear of job seeking and have the confidence to look for a better future, better life

 

[pollyp]

so driving the car normal after the trackday, the coolant no longer bubbles out or collapse the return hose.
also checked the compression & spark plugs, all perfectly equal/stable

swapped back from trackday brakes

over to the road driving set and fresh set of pads

few days later had a damn screw near the edge of the new tyres
local tyre shop says I need a new one lol fook that

 

[pollyp]

2023-07-22 Redcar Fun Gala Show

Went to a local show with my CCS club.
morning started with light drizzle but we were lucky it soon kept dry

was a great fun day with friends, I even won the 3rd best car of the show

 

[Seb_]

OG Paul still hanging in there with the usual great tweak/fix writtings

 

[pollyp]

OG Paul still hanging in there with the usual great tweak/fix writtings

Thanks Seb

 

[pollyp]

Took the punctured tyre to a local shop and they said I need new ones
lol no chance, they're new since Feb so I'm just gonna silicone seal it and occasionally keep em pumped up

To figure if the new Primera p10 clutch assembly will fit, I modelled the bellhousing

Along with the JUN flywheel & new PP

And looks like it'll fit with few mm between the PP case and the bellhousing

Corner of the PP is just mm from the area around the starter motor

To directly measure & compare the PP diaphram force between the old Helix clutch & the new Blueprint clutch, I brought a mini 300kg scale to measure the spring force

Opened it up and turns out to use a 400kg sensor

In other news, brought some spare XFRM12 tie-rod ends

Jack also gave me some leftover rear disc & pads for my car

The Pagid T1471 on the right is a regular 14.70mm thick
Whereas the DriveMaster PAD780 on the left is a much thicker 18.00mm which is probably too thick

 

[Micra Paul]

Tubeless tyre puncture repair kit with plugs & insertion tools for £10 enabled me to repair all my 3 tyre punctures in the last decade.

POWERMAG HEAVY DUTY MOTORCYCLE CAR VAN TUBELESS TYRE PUNCTURE REPAIR KITS TIRE TOOLS EMERGENCY : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Simple & quick with no need to remove tyre or rebalance.

Jobs a good-un

 

[pollyp]

Tubeless tyre puncture repair kit with plugs & insertion tools for £10 enabled me to repair all my 3 tyre punctures in the last decade.

POWERMAG HEAVY DUTY MOTORCYCLE CAR VAN TUBELESS TYRE PUNCTURE REPAIR KITS TIRE TOOLS EMERGENCY : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Simple & quick with no need to remove tyre or rebalance.

Jobs a good-un

Thank you I've ordered a set

 

[pollyp]

2023-08-07 Design Clutch Release Force Measuring Jig

Design 1: constructed with a few flat bars, it seemed too flimsy

Design 2: next jig used a basic tube frame sitting on top of the release bearing and then runs directly over the bolt holes in shortest path, but this makes it difficult to assemble and almost impossible to read the display

Design 3: next I designed the strong frame to follow around the mini-scale (for easier reading & assembly) but the angular frame seemed too complicated & weaker to build

Design 4: final design was a simple square frame around the mini-scale, easy to build & strong

one end of the scale pulls on the frame which pushes the release bearing & diaphram spring.
the other end is anchored to the flywheel with nut & bolt.
tightening the nut pulls the jig/bearing/diaphram tighter simulating the pedal stroke

fabricated the frame

scale assembled

jig installed onto the new clutch & flywheel

measuring the force whilst tightening the nut progressively

And here is the force graph of a 200mm Blueprint ADN13220N pressure plate

When the clutch is fully depressed, the diaphram drops to light 80kg.
If the bearing (blue) pushes any further, the diaphram jams against the 9 fulcrum pins (purple) and force increases at the far right of the graph

With a fresh thick clutch disc, the pressure plate only clamps with 187kg (on the right-side of the force graph) and the pedal travel would feel linear

The clutch will only reach the 220kg max clamping force / torque capacity when it's almost half worn

Once the disc is 6mm thick, it's worn out.

The pedal will also seem to feel quite bi-stable / bumpy springy because the diaphram rests on the left-side of the force graph where the initial pedal travel has to overcome the 220kg peak force before it gets lighter on the right-side of the graph.

The diaphram now offers only 150kg of force but the release bearing would hit the limit of the gearbox, unable to relax the diaphram.
The clutch will soon start to slip badly as it wears out even thinner

 

[pollyp]

brought a cheap tyre repair kit online as recommended

removed the slightly leaking screw

repaired it as instructed

and it's worked! no more leaks

coolant return hose still occasionally collapses only after pushing it hard. think the hose is old & floppy, gonna replace it soon

Visited Craig & his Skyline after many yrs

he was selling all his Gopro stuff, same model as mine and is a good time to replace my old 720p action cams.
This is over £400 worth and I brought it for £200

 

[pollyp]

Visiting Mohammad to finish welding up the rear section of his old E190

 

[pollyp]

2023-08-26 Replace Helix 200mm Clutch
Time to replace the old Helix clutch, oil is dark brown with a few shavings on the plug

disconnecting the gearbox

gearbox hoisted out

Release bearing is quite worn

removing the old clutch

Previously thought the rear main seal was leaking, but this shows the oil stain was actually coming down from the old rocker cover (which is now mended)

11yr old Helix 200mm clutch & JUN flywheel removed

only very light scoring on the hard chromoly 3.6kg flywheel, can't feel any worn lip, so I'll just reuse it

The heavy duty Helix PP has light scoring but not worn down enough to feel any lip

The soft old Helix clutch disc took the brunt of wear & tear and is close to minimum limit

comparing the Helix 200mm organic clutch with a Blueprint 100mm clutch

The PP face are similar diameter. can see the Helix heavy duty PP has a double layer diaphram

Problem with the Blueprint PP is the bolt holes are different & the casing diameter is slightly bigger

Comparing to the Helix PP, it's approx 4mm larger diameter
I don't have time or funds to mod the new PP to fit, so I'll just re-use the Helix PP

Both clutch discs are exactly the same diameter which is great news

Measuring the force of the Helix heavy duty PP

Interesting to note that they have a similar spring curve but the Helix has a stiffer peak force of 270.5kg vs the Blueprints 221kg.
Due to the resting point of the PP, the new Blueprint clutch disc doesn't compress the Helix PP as far to the right of the graph vs Blueprints PP.

This means that with a fresh new clutch disc, the Helix PP is already sat at it's peak clamping force of 250kg

When we press the pedal, the spring force immediately starts dropping down to 115kg

Once the clutch disc wears beyond 7.70mm the release bearing runs out of travel and the clamping force rapidly gets weaker/slips

 

[pollyp]

JUN flywheel cleaned & installed

New Blueprint clutch disc fitted to the old Helix heavy duty PP

New clutch bolted on

Replaced the release bearing

Gearbox installed

Everything hooked up, filled with fresh oil

Fired it up,
No major vibrations so it's still balanced,
No more rattling clutch disc.

The biggest surprising difference with a thick new disc is just how light the pedal feels now!
The pedal used to require upto 45kg with the wornout disc but with a fresh disc it only requires 23kg.

Another challenge is just how sensitive & aggressive the new softer clutch disc bites with the light flywheel.
It has a very tiny range of slippage when setting off, feels like an on/off bite of a paddle clutch, so it's very easy to stall
I'm having to relearn being more delicate with the clutch pedal and rev bit higher to stop stalling

Once I release the clutch outside that narrow 'slip window' the heavy PP & large soft clutch disc will bite/lock hard, occasionally wheel spinning out of junctions lol

Hopefully it'll feel more progressive as I bed-in the clutch more

 

[pollyp]

2023-09-02 Rigid Radiator Return Pipe

Since this years trackdays, I noticed the old long soft radiator return hose sometimes collapse overnight especially if she was driven hard.
I suspect the HG or head bolts might be slightly loose and only during high loads a tiny amount of exhaust would leak into the cooling system, where it'll cool & shrink overnight making the weak old hose buckle under vacuum, rather than suck extra coolant from the expansion tank via the rad cap.

To reduce the buckling, I brought a length of stainless pipe

Replaced the long section with a solid pipe & stainless clamps but retain the flexible rubber bends

Now it no longer buckles overnight

 

[pollyp]

closer look at the old release bearing. the bearing itself is fine, spins freely and no play but the plastic inner collar is damaged from the last time the clutch fork snapped and broke it

wirebrushed all the old glue & leftover rubber from the roof in prep for the new roof lining

 

[pollyp]

2023-08-30 Repair old jet wash

Had a look at a m8s old broken jetwash. It buzzes but doesn't spin up

Interesting to find it uses an axial piston pump rather than a centrifugal pump

cleaned up the valves

It still buzzes stationary so gotta dig deeper into the motor, had to grind off the seized screws

mechanically & electrically fine inside

To reassemble, I had to drill & retap the holes

While it was buzzing I noticed that if I nudge the shaft by hand, it immediately fires up.
So the AC motor has an issue with starting up, which points to the faulty white cylindrical capacitor

Ordered a new £10 capacitor

& it finally works